zippinbye

As in the title, I'm wondering what's required for a foreign national to earn the right to work in a US airline job? Back in the day when I learned to fly, it was very common for foreign students to get their ratings in the US on a student visa and to continue in early phases of " time building", presumably under the assumption that the education was being built upon as an employed pilot. Lots of such types flyig air tours and with commuter airlines. Quite a number parlayed their way into a major eventually (some even with special "minority" consideration at certain carriers), which I never thought made sense while so many native pilots couldn't find a career job. Not the point of my query; I have a highly-qualified student getting his FAA type rating on a popular airliner, which he has abundant experience flying in both seats for one of his country's mainstream carriers. A carrier I might add that has been a destination for a number of US guys on contract. He did the student visa thing,and got is initial training at UND. He went back home and walked right into a job that often was filled via ab initio candidates. His dream is to move to the US and fly for one of our airlines. His quals would be extremely desireable to potential employers, and his personality and attitude would be well-received by colleagues. I'd appreciate any synopsis of what's possible these days. Thanks!

Proximity

The hardest part will be obtaining right to work in the USA. No matter how desirable he is to an employer, currently USA airlines cannot sponsor foreign pilots and that's not likely to change anytime soon. He would have to find another route to get into the USA.

SEPfield

Actually there was talk not long ago about a few of the regional airlines sponsoring work visas for foreign pilots. I believe Skywest was the most mentioned. I don't remember the specific type of visa, but a ten minute google search should be enough to find it.
It's extremely unlikely any of the Legacy or Major airlines will sponsor a visa, but the regionals are starting to run out of options.

Wink

I believe Republic tried to get H1B Visas for Brazilian pilots and it did not work.

Lucky8888

An H1B Visa is for "Certain foreign professionals in “specialty occupations.”" Being a pilot is not considered a "specialty occupation." We tried to do this for a "friend" a couple of years ago and were turned down.

zondaracer

His best chance is to marry a US citizen or national. Otherwise, if he is eligible, he can apply for the green card lottery.

I have heard that SkyWest may have accepted some pilots on an E3 visa (available only to Australians) but I have yet to meet any of these pilots. I have heard that PDT and Envoy have hired some Australians on the E3 visa.

Lastly, there is a company called OMS claiming that they can get pilots a visa, and it comes at a steep cost. Don't know how legit it is.

CaptYoda

You can expect things to be quite different in Trumpland.

ilyushin96

I personally know one Australian (ex-colleague from an airline in Asia) citizen who started working at Skywest not too long ago on E-3.

Ameriflight is now accepting Australians with 4 years bachelor degree.

Also, E-3 visa is getting better and better in terms of benefits. I am also looking for Part 135 or Part 121 job as an Australian citizen.

TiredSoul

Yes, go ahead and encourage him into a 'fake' marriage.
You're talking deportation on his side and jail time for the "lady" when found out.

Good luck with the Greencard application. 7-10 years buddy.
And officially sponsored visa schemes will have you tied hand and foot to the one employer.

mike sierra

Also, there is only 65.000 H1B visas available per year plus 20.000 for master graduates. That means there is more request for the visas than availability and it is a raffle. It does not guarantee the request will be approved.

Plus, the overall cost of the process for the visa is more than U$8.000. With all that info, you guys can figure out that is almost impossible for an airline sponsor visas.